


Sleep Talking

by SakuraBlossomStorm



Series: Stories From the Parks Department Floor [1]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Break Up, F/M, Sleep talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 03:49:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7742200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakuraBlossomStorm/pseuds/SakuraBlossomStorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben overhears Leslie talking about her City Council Campaign in her sleep and knows that all good things must come to an end. Part of the Stories From the Parks Department Floor Series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep Talking

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first post on the site! This is currently part of my Stories From the Parks Department Floor which is on FF.net but now being moved over here! I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> The first chapter centres around the first episode of Season Four where Ben and Leslie have to break up so she can run for City council.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That éclair made Ben weirdly thirsty.

He could just about make out the clock on his bedside table through his bleary eyes, 3:28am. He rolled onto his back and sighed, right now he was incredibly confortable and didn’t want to move to get a glass of water however his scratchy throat was irritating enough to move in from his haven.

He looked to his right and saw her, his beautiful girlfriend, Leslie Knope. She was fast asleep, her blonde hair strewn across her pillow and her arms tucked under the pillow as if to be hugging it. He smiled at her and reached out an arm and stroked her exposed shoulder, she shifted slightly in her sleep but buried her face deeper into her pillow.

Today had been weird. He had stopped at Doug’s Donuts in the morning before work to collect an ‘L’ shaped éclair for Leslie, while he was on his way to his first meeting on the morning he ran into Leslie who was coming out of her own meeting which she claimed to be the Ladies’ Yacht club (He thought that was strange considering there was a 40 year old man in the club) she scurried off without even muttering a hello to him. Then before he even had a chance to get his first cup of coffee for the day there was a strange email going to all the women in the office with a picture of someone’s penis attached to it, of course, like everything does in Pawnee, it was blown into a huge scandal and all the towns media was all over it. He still hadn’t really had a chance to get Leslie on her own to have one of their daily make out sessions in a supply closest let along give her the éclair.

His chance soon came when he finally got to sit down at his desk towards the end of the day, he received a text not long ago from his brother telling him the good news that him and his wife just had a baby girl. Overcome with happiness that he was an uncle he immediately called up his brother to congratulate him when Leslie came storming in, snatched the phone out of his hand and hung it up.

She was acting really weird, the morning and now this, she wasn’t angry, she seemed flustered if anything. Ben thought she must have had a bad day and therefore this would be the perfect chance to present her with the éclair, to which she promptly burst into tears…and then pounced on his mouth to make out with him.

Maybe it was her time of the month? But he didn’t dare ask. He just had to roll with the fact that Leslie was a little crazy today.

They went back to where he currently resided in April and Andy’s place, they were out for the evening with the other band members of MouseRat so they could be as intimate as they liked without worrying that they would come running in. They got Chinese takeout, shared the éclair, made out some more and went to bed. The best way to end a weird day.

Ben finally decided that the thirst was too much to bear and with a grunt, forced himself out of bed and towards the kitchen.

He slipped on a pair of shoes as he made his way out into the open lounge. The last time he went out in the middle of the night he stepped in something sticky, to this day he still couldn’t tell you what it was but he didn’t want to know. Now he always swore to wear shoes in the lounge thanks to the unpredictable April and Andy.

As predicted he heard something crunch under his shoe, He gave a shudder but carried on to the kitchen, he’d reprimand them about being clean in the morning.

He grabbed a clean glass and filled it up from the faucet, drank it all down and then filled it up again. He knew he would probably be up in a few hours to pee but it would be better than getting up for another glass. 

He dragged himself back to his room and set the glass down, he perched on the edge of the bed and he removed the shoes when he heard a faint whisper coming from Leslie’s side of the bed, he looked over and could see her face exposed in the moonlight. Her mouth was parted and she was mumbling in her sleep.

She did warn him on their first night together that she was a sleep talker; he didn’t really take much notice unless she got really loud then he had to shake her awake. But right now it was a gentle mutter, he could sleep with that. 

He was about to lie back down when he heard an audible ‘I’m Leslie Knope… City Council’.

He smirked, she was too adorable. She often used to dream about being President or Mayor or some sort of powerful position, but this was the first time he had heard her mention City Council.

He ended up sitting there for a while, listening to her mumbles as they started to get more coherent.

“I want to change Pawnee…I love…Pawnee…best town… I am running for City Council”. 

Then it all hit him like a ton of bricks.

Last week he overheard Chris talking to someone about there being a potential new spot on the City Council. Then a few days later there were the black suits that came and took Leslie to the side, straight after that she was acting weird around him. 

Everything fell into place in front of him, the man in the Ladies Yacht Club, that was the same man that spoke to her in private that night. The reason why she had been acting so crazy around him was because she was going to run for City Council.

He exhaled and buried his face in his hands, the few weeks they had spent together, this amazing, magical bubble they had formed had popped. This was the end.

They couldn’t stay together after this, he wanted her to be successful and the risk would be bigger for either one of them getting caught, Chris would find out, the public wouldn’t trust her, she’d never do well with him in the picture.

He felt sick, this was the first girl in a long time that he felt so connected to. If only they met somewhere else, not through work. He immediately started to hate the state auditors at Indianapolis for sending him to this crazy town.

No, he couldn’t hate them. Truth was if he never came here then he wouldn’t have had those magical weeks with Leslie.

He looked over at her sleeping form; she had stopped mumbling in her sleep and was now breath softly, which made his heart ache. He really liked her, _really_ liked her. He realised that if his feelings were that strong then he needed to end things, he cared too much for her to not see her chase her dreams with a fair shot. He wasn’t going to be the one to keep Leslie Knope grounded.

Ben glanced at the clock again, 3:51. He needed to go to sleep, he would be exhausted tomorrow, as he lie down he felt a lump in his throat, no matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t going to get back to sleep tonight. Not with all this weighing on his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We have to break up”.

“…Why? Why do we have to break up?”

Four days had passed since Ben figured out about Leslie’s run for City Council. It had been days of pure agony, every time she walked passed him it hurt, especially when she avoided looking at him. He could tell she was worried about telling him, he tried to make things easier for her, he spent the majority of his lunch break on Photoshop designing a ‘Knope 2012’ logo and even went out to get it imprinted on a button. 

Ben planned it all out; he was going to take her for dinner and tell her there and then that he knew and the sweetest way possible, end things. But no matter how many times he rehearsed it, that lump in his throat would come back and he would choke on his words. 

He took her to a lovely Italian place right on the outskirts of Pawnee, it started off ok, they ordered their wine and Leslie started telling Ben how much she liked him, Ben realised she was going to break up with him, this was going to make things so much easier! He planted the box with the button inside in front of her, huge mistake. She panicked and fled the restaurant leaving him with two glasses of cheap red wine and pitying looks from the waiters.

Maybe he shouldn’t have put it in a jewellery box…

He didn’t see her for two days after that, he tried calling her but her phone was switched off. He was concerned, he didn’t dare go to see her Mother to ask her whereabouts; she’d eat him alive if she knew he was the reason she had run away. Even members of the parks department where concerned. Leslie never took a day off.

Finally, an email pinged up on his computer sent from the woman herself.

‘To: Ben Wyatt.  
From: Leslie Knope.  
Subject: I’m Sorry

Hey,

I’m so sorry about the other day… I’ve got a lot on my mind.

Can you meet me in the break room? I need to talk to you about everything that’s happened.

Hopefully I’ll see you there?

Leslie Knope  
Deputy Director of the Parks Department’.

Ben took a deep breath, this was it. Neither of them could run from this any more. He reached into his bag and pulled out the jewellery box with the button encased. It was time to break up with the most perfect woman he had ever known.

The whole thing hurt, it took a while for Leslie to open the box, she kept pushing it away, in the end Ben had to open it for her. As soon as she laid eyes on the button her mouth dropped open.

This was it; Ben had to pour out everything that he had practised; he finally uttered those horrible break up words.

“Leslie everything you have accomplished you have earned and you have worked for. I don’t want anyone to think that you got where you are today by sleeping with your boss” He explained.

Leslie sighed, “But I really like sleeping with my boss”.

“Yeah...” Ben was a little lost for words after that, she liked him. Hearing all that made him clenched his knuckles tightly. This was painful for both of them, it had to end now.

“Ok look… I’m gonna make this really easy for you” Ben said as he clasped his hands together, “It’s not you its me”.

She smirked as Ben started reeling off all the typical break up lines to her, every single one was not true but they seemed to make her smile, after he had finished, she dropped her gaze and swallowed.

“How did you figure it out?”

Ben chuckled, “Leslie, there was a dude in the Ladies Yacht Club”.

Leslie bit her lip, “Yeah but I covered that pretty well”.

“Also you had been making campaign speeches in your sleep” He then said with a fond smile as he remembered the other night, then he realised that would be the thing he would miss the most about her. The fact that she was overflowing with passion for what she does and what she wants to do that she would literally go to sleep with her dreams and what she wanted to achieve on her mind.

“Granted you always do that but… they got really specific and moving” He finished.

He could see Leslie trying to remember what she might have said in her sleep, “Did I have a good opening line?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“It was simple but I liked it”.

It was all over; some people say break ups are like ripping off a band-aid, quick and painless. But this brought over a new wave of sadness Ben had never felt before. As she walked away and left him sat alone he could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. 

He rested his head in his hands and took steady breaths; a few tears crept out of his glassy eyes and rolled down his cheek. He quickly wiped them away in case someone else walked in or worse Leslie came back, it would be bad enough to see him crying but he knew that if she saw him like this she would start crying and everything would be ten times harder for both of them.

The vibrating of his phone brought him out of his state, he pulled out his phone and saw that Chris was calling him. He swallowed back the sadness and cleared his throat to answer.

“Hey Chris… Nope I’m not busy…give me a minute I’ll be there”.

With that, he pushed himself up from the chair. He had been summoned to a meeting, Chris needed to go over the necessary paper work to make sure that Sewage Joe was fired and removed from the government property immediately after the penis photo scandal.

First things first he needed to stop off at the bathroom and wash his face clean of any signs of tears. Then he needed to snap out of it and remember the slight positives of this.

Yes they weren’t together and probably were never going to get back together, but he was going to stand by her…as a friend and as a supporter of her campaign.


End file.
